Craveable, shareable buckeyes

Share Craveable, shareable buckeyes

Include these peanut butter and chocolate goodies in your holiday treat swap this year, and you’re sure to get rave reviews.

Buckeyes

Ohio food writer Sara Bir, a lifelong Buckeyes fan (her father, Jim Bir, is a 1968 graduate), published this recipe for buckeyes in a 2004 issue of Saveur. But don’t worry about digging that up — Bir shared it with us and also included this winner in her new book, Tasting Ohio: Favorite Recipes from the Buckeye State, slated for release in the spring.

Source: Sara Bir/Tasting Ohio: Favorite Recipes from the Buckeye State

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Buckeyes

24 candies

Share Craveable, shareable buckeyes

Ingredients

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

3/4 cup smooth peanut butter

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon table salt

12 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon vegetable shortening

Preparation

Line baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper and set aside.

Combine powdered sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt in large mixing bowl and beat well with wooden spoon (or knead by hand) until smooth and pliable but not sticky. Roll into 1-inch balls and transfer to prepared baking sheet. Freeze until firm, 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt chocolate and shortening in small heat-safe bowl set over saucepan of simmering water, stirring often, until smooth. Remove from heat.

Insert thin wooden skewer or toothpick into the center of each ball and dip about three-quarters of it into melted chocolate, leaving a small circle of peanut butter exposed at the top. Transfer to baking sheet. Remove toothpick and repeat dipping process with remaining peanut butter balls and chocolate, reheating chocolate if necessary.

Buckeye brownie cookies

Erin Vasicek ’07 studies salmonella as as a research associate in the College of Medicine. After hours, she updates her food blog, The Spiffy Cookie. The irony isn’t lost on her friends. “Most people are either creeped out or like, ‘Well, we know your kitchen’s clean,’” she says. Check in at The Spiffy Cookie every Saturday, when Vasicek publishes a new buckeye-inspired treat that’ll make the Buckeyes fan in you swoon with delight.

Slowly add flour mixture to egg and chocolate mixture and stir until incorporated. Form dough into 1 ½-tablespoon balls. Place on baking sheets 2 inches apart. Make indentation in the center of each.

In separate bowl, mix powdered sugar with peanut butter until combined. Roll mixture into teaspoon-sized balls, one for each brownie base, and press into cookies, flattening the peanut butter slightly.

Bake 10 minutes or until edges are set. Cool 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool.

Melt remaining chocolate in double boiler and spoon over cooled cookies. Allow to set before serving or storing in air-tight container.

Buckeye bars with shortbread crust

“I’ve never met a buckeye — dessert or person — I didn’t like,” says Lydia Nordhoff ’01, who started blogging at Lydi Out Loud as motivation to stay on top of her hobbies and loves. Though her writing is now published by national brands such as Home Depot, the publication of this recipe in Ohio State Alumni Magazine is what really impressed her husband, a Buckeyes fan who proposed to his bride four and a half years ago on the 50-yard line during a tour of the ’Shoe.

For chocolate layer, combine chocolate chips and butter in microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 15-second increments until melted, stirring well between each increment. Spread over peanut butter layer.

Allow to set at least 30 minutes. Lift entire recipe from pan using parchment and slice.

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